ENTRYMEDIAABOUTBOOKSIMPRINTJOURNALPYROGRAPHY JOURNALObservations from half a century on the tectonic fault lines between East and West.Japan—Destiny, Never DestinationMarch 28, 2026This is the story of how a 1972 stop-over in Japan transformed into belonging by fate, and the exploits of a professional photographer that took him from following outcast street performers and hanging out in pachinko halls to living in the cloistered world of Gion geisha, entering corporate boardrooms, and meeting two future prime ministers.
Through the Glass EyeApr 24, 2026Born in Germany, Hans Sautter has called Japan home since 1972. His photographic journey began at age five with his father's Agfa Clack and fifteen years later led to formal training at the Munich Academy of Photography (1970–72). From 1984, he expanded into video production, working with the world's first electronic cinematography camera before returning to freezing moments with photography. His work now merges both — still and moving images — in multimedia storytelling.
After the WaveMar 11, 2026On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck northeastern Japan, triggering a massive tsunami that wiped out whole towns along more than 600km of coastline and killed over 18,400 people. Yet in German media this human catastrophe was instrumentalized to incite nuclear panic, and politically weaponized to force a historic energy policy reversal. This first-hand account from Tokyo is an indictment of a media–political apparatus that ignored the survivors’ fate and systematically exploited the tsunami victims for political and self-righteous moral gain.
Japan—Costumed RealityJan 3, 2026Western — particularly German — publishers, editors, and media persistently demand a formulaic image of Japan: geisha, Fuji, Zen, tradition-versus-modernity. This ‘Japan’ is a projection, shaped by motivated perception, editorial gatekeeping, and a psychological need for the exotic Other. The stereotype is self-reinforcing, institutionally maintained, and largely immune to correction.
